Building STEM Skills

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education is the focus of much discussion these days. Jobs in STEM fields are plentiful and lucrative, but the number of students interested in these careers is not keeping up with demand. This is especially true for women and people of color.

TCEA’s robotics contests give students the opportunity to develop STEM skills with hands-on, collaborative projects. Students from elementary (Intermediate) and secondary (Advanced) schools design, collaborate, plan, redesign, construct, create, assemble, invent, reinvent, write, present, and compete to see who has developed a winning robot.

There are two distinct categories in the TCEA Robotics Contest. The Arena competition is a prescribed problem contest where students program their robot to accomplish a list of specific tasks. The Inventions competition is open-ended; students choose a real-world problem and create a robotic solution. They use marketing, programming, writing, constructing, and presentation skills as part of this competition.

Whether your team will be competing in Arena or Inventions, all participants must read and abide by the official rules.

“When I sat back and thought about where my interest in technology came, I realized it all started with robotics. That experience spawned a lifelong passion for technology.”Former robotics student, current STEM-field professional

Starting a Robotics Program

Why Robotics?

Robotics is an invaluable resource for teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills. It also develops critical thinking, collaboration, and problem solving, along with other 21st century skills such as creativity, imagination, curiosity, and innovation. A curriculum that includes robotics provides students with the ability to take an active role in their own learning and forms a necessary foundation for their lives in the ever-changing world.

Become a Robotics Sponsor

A sponsor provides students with a learning space to build and program, creates a support system, secures funding for equipment and registration fees, and transports students to contests. Sponsors are usually educators who teach a class, have an afterschool program, or manage a Saturday club.

A church, community organization, and the Girl/Boy Scouts are welcome to participate in the TCEA Robotics Contest; however, a sponsor is required to be a member of TCEA. TCEA membership is $49 for a full year.

Necessary Equipment

Equipment – Ideally, you want one LEGO EV3 core set and one LEGO EV3 expansion set for every two students. The expansion set comes in handy to replace parts that might get lost from the core kit. This set also has unique parts needed to take your invention or arena build to the next level. If you don’t have EV3, you can use NXT or RCX.

Software – The LEGO MINDSTORMS Education (LME) EV3 programming language is perfect for both elementary and middle school. High school has several programming options: ROBOTC, LabVIEW, and LeJOS, Java for Lego Mindstorms. The LME EV3 program can also fit with the high school level, because the software has advanced programming, such as: cascading switches, multiple tasks, variables, and arrays.

Equipment Storage and Organization

Storage – The storage containers provided by LEGO are a unique piece of engineering for the robotics classroom. Students can use the lid as a sorting and building tray because the rim will keep pieces from rolling. You will need to invest in some plastic bins to house semi-built and built robots. It’s a good idea to store your robots in a covered tub, especially if you are short on storage, as containers can be stacked on top of each other.

Organization – You should number your sets, bricks, lids, and such with a permanent marker. Another recommendation is using colors. Label the building book, both sides of the bin, lid, inventory card, brick, and power supply. Colored electrical tape or colored coding labels (dot shaped) work well for labeling purposes.

Computers – There should be one computer for each robot/team of students. Each student should learn how to program.

Keeping Track of Your Parts – Electronic parts (motors and sensors) can be issued to students on a check in/out basis. Plastic storage containers and fishing tackle boxes come in handy for the many LEGO pieces found in the robotic sets.

Technic Building Elements – Thingamabobs, whatchamacallits, and doohickeys are not names anyone should be calling LEGO technic building pieces. Learning the proper names of the 500+ pieces you find in a core set would be a challenge, but the students should know the most commonly used parts. The technic beams are counted by the holes. Use the technic beam holes to measure axles. An axle that is four holes long is a #4 axle, eight holes long is a #8 axle, and so forth. Gears are identified by number of teeth. The proper names of the sensors are touch, gyro, color, and ultrasonic. Connector pegs are identified by length and color. We sell an EV3 Parts Poster in our online store. Posters can be purchased, here, for $5 each + shipping.

Practice Area – Don’t forget you will need a space large enough to run the robot challenges or practice for competition. Finally, you will need to think about storage for your paraphernalia when your room is used for classroom instruction.

TCEA Robotics State and Area Contests

For those in education, a new year begins each August rather than January. Robotics sponsors unlock cabinets, dust off robotics kits, and plug in the bricks. Back to school for thousands of students means brainstorming a new robotics invention or examining the new arena challenge.

Each year TCEA holds 20 area (regional) contests around the Lone Star State. There are two divisions based on grade level. 4th-8th grade are designated Intermediate and 8th-12th grade are Advanced. Teams composed of students from 6th-8th grades may compete at the advanced level if they so desire. First and Second Place Area Winners teams advance to the State Contest in the spring, which is held in central Texas.

ROBO-SIG’s mission is to become a network hub for educators involved in robotics; advocate for robotics as a classroom tool to teach and engage students in STEM; assist members in acquiring classroom robotics pedagogy and knowledge base; and prepare sponsors for the challenges of student competition. Lean more here.

Still Have Questions?

Go to our Frequently Asked Questions page to get the latest information about the upcoming TCEA Robotics Contests.